Veteran GOP strategist Karl Rove left onlookers in disbelief after he delivered a startlingly impressive impression of President Donald Trump.
On Saturday, reactions rolled in to Rove doing a standout Trump voice when asked to respond to the president calling him a "stone cold loser" in a Truth Social post. Rove, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, drew Trump's ire after publicly announcing his plans to vote for a Democrat in a scathing op-ed about growing bigotry in the GOP.
In a video put out by The Atlantic, Rove repeats "stone cold loser" in Trump's voice while moving his hand and frowning like the president, prompting laughter and enthusiastic applause from the audience of The Atlantic's panel watching the event.
The praise continued as online responses remarked about the veteran GOP strategist's newly discovered talent.
"If you had told me Karl Rove can do a pitch perfect impersonation of Trump..." prominent activist and writer Charlotte Clymer commented in a post on X.
"I had no idea Rove could do such a good Trump impression," admitted political analyst and The Atlantic staff writer Tom Nichols.
"I'll admit, I didn't have 'Karl Rove does great impersonation of Trump' on my 2026 bingo card," joked Australian journalist and television presenter John Barron.
"Hey wait a minute that's actually a phenomenal Trump impression," political analyst Drew Savicki agreed.
"The year is 2026. You just woke up from your coma. You see Karl Rove getting a round of applause from readers of The Atlantic," posted international law expert Yuan Yi Zhu, appreciating the whole scene.
"Karl Rove getting applause from Atlantic audience was never on my list of things that could happen," echoed economics professor Vincent Geloso.
Conservative columnist and political analyst S.E. Cupp struck a more serious tone, however, to draw people back toward her criticism of Rove.
"Yes, the important thing here is his Trump impression," Cupp sarcastically posted. "And now that he's decided not to back the Texas railroad commissioner candidate — for racism — let’s move steadily past the fact that he backed the racist PRESIDENT for 10 years."
